Author: Richard

Cornelis Jan Slomp, a 22-year-old man from Woerden in Netherlands better known by his alias ‘SuperTrips’ used the Silk Road (an underground website) to deal drugs including LSD, ecstasy and cocaine for millions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoins (virtual currency).

The Charge

According to a statement issued by his lawyer and U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, Slomp pleaded guilty to the single drug trafficking conspiracy he was charged with. He was arrested on August, 2013 after a criminal complaint was filed against him. The prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of all alleged proceeds Slomp made from his crimes which is believed to be worth more than 3 million U.S. Dollars.

The Bust

Slomp was arrested at the Miami International Airport en route to a meeting with his co-conspirators. Prosecutors claim that he was planning to ‘spin-off’ his U.S. Silk Road operations to one of them. The 11 co-conspirators who were based in Europe helped him manufacture, pack and ship illegal drugs which bore a question mark as his trademark. He’s in custody and faces a sentence of between 5 years (mandatory minimum) and 40 years (maximum term) in prison.

Activities Monitored

Slomp made more than 10 000 transactions on the Silk Road from which he received about 385 000 Bitcoins. His operations started on March, 2012 and ran to August, 2013 according to undercover FBI agents who had him under vigilance. On April, 2012 U.S. officials seized mailed drugs that were sent from the Netherlands in an otherwise empty VCD case. This incident happened at the O’Hare International Airport, Chicago and Slomp was identified as the sender. Authorities said that they subsequently nabbed a hundred or more similar shipments.

The Plea

Paul Petruzzi, an attorney from Miami who represents Slomp confirmed that his client intended to plead guilty to the charges. Petruzzi said this decision was made after deliberations between the two. The plea will be filed at the prosecutor’s office.

For many years, enthusiasts have tried to figure out some ways to buy drugs without being handcuffed by the DEA or setting up mysterious meetings with dealers from a bad world’. Finally, there’s been some relief for these people who want to take their high’ to the next level, while being able to enjoy the convenience of the Internet. With websites like Silkroad, you can buy a wide range of drugs without being directly involved with any drug dealers or worrying about breaking any laws.

A Brief Overview of Silkroad

It is a comprehensive website where you can order almost any drug in the world. While some critics have been questioning the trust factor’ of the website, there are many customers who’ve loved the service.

This website is an e-commerce store where the only things you can buy or sell are drugs. In order to protect the identities of customers, this website can only be accessed through an anonymous network called TOR. Moreover, it only accepts payments in the form of Bitcoins, which is an untraceable digital currency.

Silkroad is Back

On 2nd October, 2013, law enforcement officials arrested Dread Pirate Roberts’. He is considered to be the elusive proprietor and creator of this anonymous online black market. He had been evading the grasp of authorities since 2011.

Silkroad has quickly become one of the most popular platforms for illicit drugs, stolen content, hacking wares, forged documents or some other illicit items people would want with the exception of child pornography and weapons.

After some customers were hit by the Bitcoin scandal and Dread Pirate Roberts was arrested, traffic to the website was hit hard, and it was temporarily shut down. However, the wait is finally over.

Silkroad is Back, and It’s Bigger Than Ever

Approximately 13,648 listings for drugs are now available on Silkroad compared to the 13,000 that were listed shortly before the FBI arrested Ulbricht and shut down the site. In comparison, Silkroad’s closest competitor, Agora, has just roughly 7,400 drug listings.

Since the time this website was seized, the competition in the industry has substantially increased. Silkroad 2.0 contains more listings than ever. In fact, when it comes to drugs, the new version of the website contains over 75% more listings. The website has continued to conduct steady business despite any arrests that were made in the past.

Many scam artists tried too hard to fill the void when the website was shut down. This created a bit of distrust among customers. Some operators allegedly store millions of dollars worth of bitcoins. Skilled operators and developers of the website have been able to turn this crisis into an opportunity. The hack was organized in February, and affected thousands of customers.

However, the operators devised a specific plan to give bitcoins back to the customers who were hit during this hack. This allowed the developers and operators of Silkroad to reaffirm customers that it’s not a scam market like other online black markets. With the rapid growth of the website, there’s no doubt that Silkroad will continue to draw more attention in the coming months. It will generate more interest among customers who’re looking to buy illicit drugs anonymously.

Ross William Ulbricht was the brains behind a billion-dollar criminal enterprise on The Silk Road site where the buyers used Bitcoins to buy and sell drugs. He of course pled not guilty in a Manhattan Federal Court despite the evidence against him which includes several computer servers. He was however, indicted on four counts, which are operating a narcotics trafficking scheme, computer hacking, money laundering and being the mastermind behind a large criminal enterprise. The Silk Road site was a proven booming black-market bazaar that drug dealers used to distribute illegal drugs and launder millions of dollars in illegal transactions. Ulbricht specifically designed the site to use the Bitcoin-based system of payment in order to effectively conceal the identities and the locations of the active users.

Bitcoin Is not Currency

This is why he defends himself of the charges of money laundering by stating that only virtual currency was used in all Silk Road transactions and that no real money was used. Bitcoin which was used in the transactions isn’t real money. His lawyer was also quick to point out the ruling by IRS, which stated that Bitcoins are simply property and not currency. Joshua Dratel his lawyer, also stated in writing that Bitcoins which were the only means of payment on the site don’t qualify as “monetary instruments” and therefore can never substantiate the money laundering violation charges.

FBI Claims

The FBI claimed that Ulbricht made use of Bitcoins in the site in order to camouflage drug related transactions, murder-for-hire plots and other criminal services. However, Dratel the lawyer dismisses the claims by stating that Ulbricht shouldn’t be liable for any criminal deals carried out by the online customers on the site whether he operated the site or not since he didn’t sell anything himself. He further backs up his defense by saying that no landlord has ever been prosecuted for renting his property to a drug kingpin. Or that no internet service provider has ever faced charges for the use of the service by criminals to carry out online criminal activities. That is how Ulbricht’s lawyer tries to get the case dismissed.

A vendor on the online marketplace Silk Road, learned that he was not as anonymous as he thought he was while facilitating transactions. In February of 2014, Kennedy was arrested by Department of Homeland agents and was subsequently charged with narcotics trafficking, gun theft, and counterfeiting related crimes.

If found guilty of all the charges he is facing, Kennedy would face upwards of 20 years in federal prison.

Based on a press release issued by Homeland Security, a Baltimore based special Silk Road task force intercepted a package addressed to Kennedy. The contents of the package, which was shipped from China, contained the illegal drug ecstasy. Merely receiving the drug is a federal crime in and of itself, but Homeland Security chose to investigate the matter further.

During the investigation, Homeland Security revealed Kennedy allegedly sent a package to England containing cocaine. Undercover agents then launched a sting operation and, during the operation, were able to purchase both a handgun and cocaine from him.

Shockingly, Kennedy did not go very far to protect his anonymity. He posted images of himself with contraband on social networks such as Facebook and Google Plus. All of these images and his activity on his social media profiles has been entered into evidence against him in a court of law.

The arrest does point out the fact that, while transactions on sites such as Silk Road can be anonymous among the buyers and the sellers, the sales do occur in the real world. If you are carless and don’t take your anonymity serious then you definitely shouldn’t be visiting these sites.

Of course, those who do not take steps to protect their anonymity are not going to remain anonymous. Any and all activity on social media platforms brings a person to the attention of the public.

The fate of Peter Phillip Nash is still in the hands of the Australian government as a decision is yet to be reached on whether to extradite the 41 year old to the United States. Nash, who hails from Queensland State, was convicted together with two other men in a drug dealing saga. As an alleged moderator of Silk Road, a website through which people buy illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin, Nash faces conspiracy charges.

The charge sheet detailed the conviction as a conspiracy to engage in computer hacking, narcotics trafficking and money laundering with regards to the website activities in the month of December. The buyers and sellers on the Silk Road platform used bitcoin, a digital currency. The Australian Attorney, General George Brandis through his spokeswoman confirmed that indeed Nash formally relinquished extradition rights when he appeared before a Queensland court. The spokeswoman further added that it was now incumbent upon the Australian Justice Minister to determine whether Mr. Nash is to be surrendered to the United States of America in line with the Extradition Act Section 15B.
However, Justice Michael Keenan, the spokesperson for the Australian Minister for Justice was not immediately available for comment.

The Co-accused, the two men accused together with Mr. Nash, were arrested in Ireland and the United States. According to the indictment read in December, the role played by the two, aged 24 and 25 was that of website administration.

These convictions come hot on the heels of the arrest in October of Ross Ulbricht, the alleged founder and mastermind behind Silk Road. The indictment identified the three men as accomplices and support personnel for Silk Road, drawing salaries to the tune of between $50,000 and $75,000 per annum.

According to findings and reports, Nash, also known as “Anonymousasshit” and “Batman73”, has been a moderator for Silk Road from January 2013.

The Silk Road 2.0 URL is: silkroad6ownowfk.onion (Note: THIS WILL NOT WORK IN A NORMAL BROWSER, read the guide for full details)

When using Silk Road 2.0 URL you have to download and install Tor Browser. Silk Road 2.0 URL will never work using any other browsers because of the encrypted network it is hosted on. You will require the Tor Browser to securely access it. If you are planning on visiting the Silk Road maketplace then you should should definitely click the link above and read the guide. It has a lot of safety precautions you should take so that you are as anonymous as you can be, this should be you number one priority when visiting these sites as you do not want ANYONE to know you were there.

With all of the hacking attempts and increased attention from all of the law enforcement agencies around the world it is increasingly risky to visit the site and buy anything. With the increased risk you need to take increased steps to hide in the shadows and be undetected. There are some great ways to do this and they are not difficult at all. Make sure you read the guide by clicking the link at he top of this post.

Another reason why you can’t use Silk Road URL with a normal browser is that you will have to encrypt your address for security purposes. This is something you can’t do while using a normal browser because you can’t access your account in the first place and even if you happen to, you will not get the encryption option.

If you are using bit coins you would really want to ensure that you are using a secure URL. You don’t want to be a victim of bitcoin theft because you transacted through an insecure site. Being assured of security will make you trust the site more which is why the only access to Silk Road 2.0 URL is through Tor.

The internet has become very insecure and the laxity of many individuals when it comes to taking security measures to protect their information has made hackers and other malicious people excited and gladly using personal information for online malicious practices. This is why the Silk Road market place administration has taken these serious security measures to prevent such occurrences.

The Silk Road online market founded in February of 2011 was named after the trade routes between India, China, Europe, and other Afro-Eurasian landmasses that came to wide use during the Han Dynasty from 206 BC to 220 AD. Today, however, the Silk Road site and its alleged creator and administrators are being actively pursued by United States law enforcers.

Trouble for the site began when Gawker published a story about it in June of 2011. This brought the website a lot of attention, prompting US Senator Charles Schumer to ask federal law enforcers to shut down the site. It was believed that the Silk Road had served as an online underground market for illegal drugs, among other things. This was followed by the separate convictions of two Australian Silk Road users in 2013 after they were found to have imported illegal drugs bought on the site.

On October 2, 2013, Ross William Ulbricht, whom authorities believed was the founder of the underground online market that earned USD $80 million in commissions, was arrested in San Francisco on suspicion of drug trafficking, money laundering, facilitating computer hacking, and six counts of attempted murder. However, prosecutors believe that the six murders meant to protect the site’s users did not take place despite the amount of $730,000 having been paid for the deeds.

Two days after his arrest in Glen Park Library, Ulbricht appeared during his arraignment in a San Francisco federal court and pleaded “not guilty” to all charges. The hearing was then rescheduled to begin on October 9, with Ulbricht being held without bail.

On October 9, Ulbricht, through his lawyer, admitted his identity as “Ross William Ulbricht”, but denied the aliases “Dread Pirate” Roberts”, “DPR”, and “Silk Road”. This prompted the San Francisco federal court to move the case to New York under custody of US marshals.

Last February 7, 2014, a court in the Southern District of New York scheduled a trial to begin in November after Ulbricht again pleaded “not guilty” to the charges against him. It was also decided that he would be held without bail in a detention center in Brooklyn.

Last February 27, the government provided Ulbricht’s defense team with data seized from Ulbricht’s computers. Reports revealed that the data included between eight and ten terabytes of information gathered for use in prosecuting the alleged Silk Road founder.

When people hear of Silk Road, their mind will probably jump to things like guns, drugs and pornography. However, the resurrected Silk Road has brought a whole new meaning to what popular items are. Not long time ago, on the Silk Road 2.0, the most popular items had been Tesco ClubCard vouchers.

The Silk Road 2.0 Tesco Voucher scam has created quite a buzz all over the world. The offer, which has already been removed, offered potential buyers’ £100 worth of Clubcard vouchers for less than half the price, of £43. The dark net, which can be accessed only by professionals using specialist equipment, was a major distribution hub for Tesco Clubcard vouchers. According to many unanimous buyers, a large number of people have bought the vouchers which were actually pretty genuine. Many customers have managed to use them to purchase Tesco products at 50% off during the last several months.

The vouchers were on sale for several months until Tesco has referred this matter to the police. Tim Keanini, chief engineer at an IT security firm, has recently declared that these hacks are becoming increasingly common nowadays, with more and more retailers and businesses falling victims to cyber criminals and hackers. According to Keanini, the real problem is not that these hackers can access the network. The real threat is that cyber criminals can steal files and still go undetected. This is how they managed to infiltrate the Tesco network and issue those fake vouchers. With over 16 million Clubcard members, Tesco has lost millions of pounds since the beginning of the “crisis”. Tesco officials have yet to release an official statement with the whole amount lost.

The amount of money going through Silk Road 2.0 and other similar websites is unbelievable. More than probably, vouchers from other UK and US retailers might be at risk. Our advice is to keep your eyes open for such scams and declare anything that looks like scam.

It was a matter of days ago that it was widely reported that the illegal Silk Road 2.0 had been hacked, which resulted in the theft of at least 4,400 BTC. The owner of new Silk Road recently posted on the site’s Tor forums that a total of 3 different hackers had managed to exploit a transaction bug to acquire the BTC from the site. “Defcon”, the website’s creator, estimated that 47% of every SR user had lost their account funds.

Details on the current and past situation have been vague, largely due to the fact that information on the Deepweb can be lacking in reputability. The nature and secrecy of the way such illegal sites operate means that publicly available statistics are almost non-existent.

The timing of the Silk Road 2.0 theft was just around the same time that Mt. Gox (the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange) was also hacked and $400 million worth of bitcoins was stolen. This seems to back up the admins statements that the bitcoins were stolen and it was not an inside job.

This event is the second time that Silk Road users have lost their funds, the last being when they were seized in the FBI take down of SR 1.0. But this time, the owner has claimed that 2.0 users will be reimbursed with their funds that were taken during the hack. The administration team will apparently receive no commissions until everyone’s been refunded, and they’ll maintain high levels of transparency about their progress.

The marketplace will continue, this time as no-escrow. A 5% commission will be charged on all items which will be instantly transferred to victims’ balances after payment.

Whilst there’s users that are overjoyed at the news of their possible refund, there’s also no lack of skepticism within the community. Some people feel that they are being forced in to using the new SR 2.0 to get their money back. The allegations made that the theft of 4000+ Bitcoins might have been committed by the site administration itself has resulted in some doubt for victims and users of the site alike. “Defcon” has made a statement to say that the investigation is ongoing and that every sign shows that the hack wasn’t performed by site staff.

Disclaimer

This website is just a blog that delivers the latest news on the Silk Road and it's latest versions of the Darknet Markets with the same name. We are in no way connected with these or any other Darknet Marketplaces. The information here is just intended for informational use and is not meant to be used for advice in any way. We do not endorse the use of illegal drugs and do not encourage any illegal activities in any way.